Unlocking IP 2009 Conference

"National and Global
Dimensions of the Public Domain’"

University of New South Wales, Faculty of
Law
16-17 April 2009

The UNSW Cyberspace
Law and Policy Centre will be hosting the 3rd ‘Unlocking
IP’ Conference at the University of New South Wales,
Sydney, from 16-17 April 2009. Earlier UIP Conferences were
held in 2004 and 2006.

1. Themes The Conference
will explore the national and global dimensions of the copyright
public domain, drawing on the Project’s research to
provide a structure for further discussion. It will bring
together a range of eminent local and international scholars
from the field, as well as showcasing notable Australian achievements
in the copyright public domain. The Conference will be structured
to some extent around key themes in the 2008 Submission by
project researchers ‘Unlocking
IP to Stimulate Australian Innovation – An Issues Paper’,
made to the Australian government’s Review of the National
Innovation System.

2. Conference
history and sponsors

This is the third 'Unlocking IP' conference, following the
successful 2004 and 2006
Conferences also held at UNSW and jointly hosted by the Centre
and AEShareNet (now TVET).

The conferences are part of the Unlocking IP Project, a
research project funded by the Australian Research Council.
The research investigates how Australia's digital commons,
comprising both the public domain and public rights created
by open content and open software licensing, can be expanded
and protected. It focuses on 'self help' actions within the
existing statutory context, in Australia's distinct legal
and cultural context, and on comprehensiveness. The
project's
Background Paper sets this out in more detail.

Unlocking IP's principal industry partner and Conference
sponsor is AEShareNet , the online service for trading
and sharing of learning materials. Details of all five industry
partners (including Baker & McKenzie, IBM Australia, Linux
Australia, and Open Source Industry Australia) and the investigators
and participants in the research, are on the
project web site.

3. Venue
and location

The conference is held at the Law Faculty, University of
New South Wales Kensington Campus in Sydney Australia.